Words of wisdom, so you know I didn't say them! Also, an elephant

One of my clients gave me an inspirational example of a positive attitude that I want to emulate myself and share.  We were working on an exercise that required her to use her core to balance.  It was challenging; that was the point.  She said, “I suck at this.  Make me do it more.”

No, I am not advocating that we all go around saying we suck at things.  What I am advocating is recognizing that there are hard things we need to do and acknowledging that we need to practice until we master them.

It is really easy to suck at something and do everything we can to avoid ever having to do it again.  How much more can we grow when we face up to those difficult things and build the strength and power to kick their butts?

Friday Exericse: Tricep Kickbacks

The Amazing Stickie is proud of her strong triceps.  One way she ensures that they stay strong is by doing tricep kickbacks.

She holds dumbbells in her hands.  She bends her knees slightly and hinges forward at her hips, keeping her spine long.  Then she bends her elbows to raise the dumbbells up to her armpits, the elbows pointing behind her body as if she were preparing to imitate a chicken.

As she exhales, she extends her elbows, straightening her arms out behind her.  She is tempted to drop her elbows toward the floor as she does this, but she resists the temptation, knowing that this is cheating.

She inhales and returns the dumbbells to her armpits.  Three sets of ten to fifteen repetitions later, she is done.

Thursday Book Report on Book Reports, with Color Commentary

I make a point of reading every day.  I admit that I love to read, so it isn’t exactly a burden.  I also think of it as my self-directed continuing education, which is why I manage to report on my fitness-related reading each week.

Sometimes, however, I have to slow down.  I have not finished reading another book that has relevance to this fitness blog.  (I am, however, deeply engrossed in Gregory Maguire’s Egg and Spoon.)  Life is not entirely about fitness, after all.

I am reading and coloring my way through Netter’s Anatomy Coloring Book by John T. Hansen.  Coloring is slow.  As the pallets of adult-oriented coloring books in stores attest, coloring has become a thing.  This is not entirely surprising to those of us who never forgot that coloring can be peaceful, meditative, and absorbing.  It is also a good way to spend time looking at structures and embedding their images in the mind.

So far, I have not colored very many pages.  I will be coloring pages for a long time.  I’m sure I will read things in between that I will write about.  For now, I will simply suggest that it is worth it to go deep rather than fast from time to time.

The good parts...

I think that a lot of times we think of fitness as stuff we Have To Do.  While some important fitness activities can fall into that category, it is important to remember that there are whole rafts of fitness processes that are inherently pleasurable.

Think, for example, about eating.  Eating food that tastes good and that nourishes us in body and soul can provide a nearly transcendent experience.  It helps to be mindful about what we are eating and how much, of course.  Then it is just about the sensory enjoyment of color, smell, taste, and texture.

How about massage?  Relaxation, whether we access it through touch or meditation or breathing, reduces our cortisol levels.  We become healthier, more resilient, and often just plain nicer as we relax.

Some people adhere to the philosophy that there is plenty of time to sleep when we are dead.  Not me.  Sleep and rest are essential to life.  It is during sleep that our bodies repair themselves and our minds process all the events of our days.  We do not want metaphoric scurvy brought on by deprivation of Vitamin Sleep.

Yes, do the weight workout (even the burpees).  Get in the cardio.  And then make sure to eat, relax, and rest.

Sea turtles are like tortoises, but swimmier

Patience is not my leading virtue.  Anything that can be done can probably be done faster, right?  What are we hanging around for?  And look!  There’s something shiny over there!

Some things, however, have to take their time.  Growing babies, for example.  Or growing babies into adults, for another.  Long division, poems, and Ikea projects also all benefit from careful consideration, concentration, and perhaps occasional swearing.  It turns out that mobility and motor control are two more of those things.

I have known for some time that a lot of strength builds during the eccentric, or lowering, phase of weight training.  Increasing the time a muscle is under tension adds fatigue and eventually strength.

However, I didn’t fully realize that slowing down movement gives the body time to smooth out the motion, to figure out how best to use its pathways, and to create feedback and feed-forward to develop better strategies.  Giving the muscles and the brain more time to work produces better results.

It is time to embrace the tortoise side of things.

Ooving right along...

I spent the weekend learning.  I got a new toy, the Oov, and a whole bunch of training about what to do with it.  I have only begun to process all the new data, but one thing in particular stood out.

The Oov, by design, takes away our ability to cheat in our movements.  Faulty strategies for movement just don’t work in an Oovy context.  This confuses the heck out of the body for a perceptible period of time and then it figures out a new, better way of moving.  The body is smart.  The Oov presents it with a whole new kind of puzzle, allowing it to grow in new directions and strengthening neuromuscular control.

What happens is akin to what Parker Palmer describes as “way closing.”  He speaks in a spiritual, vocational context about the Quaker idea of Way and its opening ahead of a person.  A wise person said to him that Way closing behind serves much the same purpose.  When we can’t do what we have always done, we have to do something new, find a new way to reach our goals.

What would we change if we couldn’t live our lives and move ourselves according to our usual patterns?

Friday Exercise: Brains

The Amazing Stickie has amazing abdominals.  She also has amazing brains.  She needs both to do this exercise, which, around here, is known as Brains.  It may have a real name, but she and I do not know it. 

To begin, Stickie lies on the floor.  Sadly, this is not the end of the exercise.  She has an exercise ball with her.  She holds it between her hands and her feet, both arms and legs sticking up into the air.  Then she lowers her right arm and left leg toward the floor, keeping the ball up with her left arm and right leg.  She does not let her arm and leg touch the floor because that would be cheating.  She lifts them back up into the air and uses them to stabilize the exercise ball.  She repeats the process, this time lowering her left arm and right leg toward the floor.

Many people are tempted to move the left arm and left leg together and the right arm and right leg together.  This is both harder and less effective.  Plugging into the brain to get the motion right is one of the challenges of this exercise.  Stickie finds that it helps to get set on one side and then simply keep moving.

Throughout the entire exercise, Stickie focuses on keeping her abdominals flat and spread out across her body.

If at any time she feels pain in her lower back, Stickie adjusts first by bending her legs rather than keeping them straight as she lifts and lowers.  If she still feels pain, she discontinues the exercise.  If she feels discomfort in her abs, of course, she keeps moving; that means the exercise is working!